The most significant problem encountered with an electronic timepiece, such as a battery-operated wristwatch, is the end of battery life. As the end of battery life approaches, the battery voltage decreases, thereby causing disruption to operation of the timepiece and, when the end of battery life is reached, the timepiece stops working. According to several known solutions, to indicate the end of battery life, the timepiece can be provided with a light element, which has a predetermined operating voltage, and the light element produces intermittent light signals. In this arrangement, several days before the end of battery life, the battery voltage drops below the operating voltage of the light element, which is no longer capable of operation. According to another method, the light element is normally kept in an inactive state, but it can produce intermittent light signals when the battery voltage drops below a predetermined value. In the first method, since the light element constantly produces light signals, the power consumed is high, so that it is necessary to use a higher capacity battery. In the second method, the power consumption increases as the end of battery life approaches, which accelerates the depletion of the battery.
It is also to be noted that, for a timepiece with only two hands, it is not known to indicate the end of battery life via a light signal as described above. Generally, with a timepiece having two indicator hands, there are no additional means provided able to indicate the end of battery life in a simple manner, which is a drawback.
Another problem encountered with a timepiece, especially a timepiece with two hands, is that it is not possible to operate the hands easily, or to change the way they normally work. At present, a timepiece with two hands includes an hour hand for indicating the hour, and a minute hand for indicating the minutes. However, it would be desirable to be able to actuate or move the hands in a more flexible manner.
It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the problems identified above relating to electronic timepieces with an analogue display.